Expanded chromas and the new frontiers of tonality: An introduction
Enrique I. Moreno · Journal of New Music Research · 1994
Unlike traditional alternative tunings, expanded tunings are not based on any equal or unequal division of the octave into any integral number of scale steps. Expanded tunings equally divide what has been called “super‐consonant intervals”, that is, the main intervals of the harmonic series, with the exception of the octave and its multiples, into a variable integral number of scale steps. In the absence of the octave as a point of reference, and given certain musical conditions, the ear might perceive some of the aforementioned super‐consonant intervals — here referred to as “morenoctaves” — as a kind of expanded octaves, thus creating a strange and unexpected expansion of the known tonal space. The possibility of this unexplored musical phenomenon is explained, and empirical research proposed.